Found a Raspberry Pi in your Christmas stocking this morning? Read on!
We’re taking some time off over the Christmas break to spend some time with our families – we’ll be back again on Jan 4!
If you woke up this morning to find a Raspberry Pi stuffed into your Christmas stocking then you’ve come to the right place. Hurrah! (And if—like mine—your stocking contained a desiccated satsuma, Captain Pugwash bubble bath, and a pack of “Root Vegetable” Top Trumps then you are equally welcome.)
With a Raspberry Pi computer you can build robots, observe wildlife, make music, learn to program, hack Minecraft and generally create amazing things. The Raspberry Pi is also special because you have to tell it what to do, not the other way round. You are in charge and it’s a brilliantly different experience to using a laptop or tablet. So before I go to bed this Christmas morning I thought I’d share a few tips to get you started:
1. Get the latest software
All computers and digital devices need an operating system to tell them how to work. The Raspberry Pi uses a free operating system called Raspbian and it’s really important that you are running the latest version. Download it here.
2. Plug it in and start it up
Our Help pages have full instructions to get up and running, along with lots of other advice for using your Pi. (You can ignore the bit about logging in at the end if you have the latest version of Raspbian.)
If you have any issues setting up your Raspberry Pi that aren’t answered in the Help section then please visit our forums. Our forum members are a very friendly bunch and will help you with any problems. The FAQ also has lots of tips and useful information.
A word on powering your Pi
Do make sure that you have a good quality power supply. Some cheaper supplies do not output the power that they claim. Any quality smartphone charger, for example, rated 2A and above would be perfect (raid the kitchen drawers!)
3. It’s plugged in. It’s running. It’s awesome! Now what?
Because the Raspberry Pi is a general purpose computer, you can do loads of stuff with it. But because it’s also small and light and doesn’t use much power, you can do even more amazing things. For younger Pi People we recommend Carrie Anne Philbin’s Adventures in Raspberry Pi, which will get you set up and making cool stuff in no time. Otherwise take a look at the book section of our recommended Christmas gifts. (In fact have a look at the whole post—it’s got some great ideas!)
4. Additional resources and projects
Our lovely and free resources show you how to do everything from making games to composing music; from making time lapse movies to the basics of programming.
The MagPi magazine is full of tutorials, fun projects, creative ideas, and community love. It’s free and quite excellent.
If you are still stuck for inspiration then have a trawl through our blog, which is an inspiring read and will get you thinking, “Wow! I’m going to have a go at that!”
5. And finally…
Merry Christmas! After a very busy year we’re taking some time off to spend with our families and we’ll be back in a few days.
Come and talk to us and our wonderful community on the forums if you get stuck. Above all: have fun and make cool stuff! See you soon.
63 comments
Michal Vašíček
No, i found it under the Christmas tree yesterday! :P
TheCubeLord
Same!
Flo
Same here. Going to build an Arcade cabinet.
Ryan Gummow
Got a raspberry pi 2 model b great gift i love it it is a lot of fun learning to program
Slo_Runner
got my by santa mail :P
Wafflehoney
Unwrapped a Raspberry Pi 2 Model B w/ 1GB earlier! Posting this from it! Sourced from THE PI HUT http://www.thepihut.com
Pilover
I got a Raspberry Pi 2 B this morning with a sense hat in addition to my older Raspberry Pi B+! I LOVE THE PI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tim
the same for me!
the bear
i got a rasberry pi for christamas
Humberto
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year folks
Bailey
I got a Raspberry Pi 2 B This morning! So many projects have been popping up on my feed I want to tackle.
Pitheguy
just reading on my raspberry pi 2 b
James Walker
Finally own a Pi 2 as of this morning… about to order accessories from the Pi Hut!
John Smith
I just got it today. It’s great, I built a custom case w/ a cooling fan and all that. Is there any way to dual-boot or boot off a USB?
I’d like to have both Raspbian and Ubuntu MATE on it.
CodingKid
You should be able to select multiple checkboxes for operating systems in NOOBS. Then, when you boot, you will get a menu of OSes.
Andrew Oakley
Another good resource for those new to Raspberry Pi are the hundreds of Raspberry Jam events. These are usually free to attend and feature show & tell sessions, talks, demos, a general place for newcomers and enthusiasts to mingle, and often some tutorials. They’re typically very family-friendly.
Here in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, our next one is Saturday 30 January. Tickets are free: http://www.cotswoldjam.org/
You can find lots more Raspberry Jams via: https://www.raspberrypi.org/jam/
Another good group of people to meet up with for computing, electronics and maker hobbyists is Hackspace: http://www.hackspace.org.uk/wiki/Main_Page
Andreas Beder
Found it from my lovly wife, sadly there is no way to boot it from usb only?!
Lars Tørnes Hansen
Using USB to boot a Raspberry Pi is not possible.
When power is switched on, the firmware in a Raspberry Pi will always try to boot using the SD-card, which is expected to be in the on-board SD card slot.
You can always chain boot, that is, start the boot loader on a USB storage device from the boot loader on the SD-card.
Be warned that such a project would be a very advanced project for a newbie Linux user. The learning curve would be nearly vertical – like mountain climbing.
Clive Beale — post author
Or you can turn it into a nice gentle scramble by following a tutorial such as https://learn.adafruit.com/external-drive-as-raspberry-pi-root/overview
Maybe not for absolute beginners but it’s really not that scary :)
kneekoo
Nope, no #pizero for me. *sigh*
Merry Christmas, everyone!
C.B.
expected to get a pizero for christmas, was sold out, got a pi 2 b.
better than expected :) can’t wait to use it .
merry Christmas
Tony R
Santa didn’t bring me a pizero either, I started crying but decided to heck with him, and I will go buy one myself!
lol
Have a great new years of ideas and inventions.. never to old to learn…
Elliot midd
I found a raspberry pi under my tree and was so happy
Michael Peskett
I managed to get my Magpi Edition 40 with PiZero before I came away for the holidays so I’m a happy chappie.
Many Thanks to all at the foundation for all you have done this year and I look forward to next year with even more excitement and anticipation of what you great people will bring us.
Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year to all.
Mike P
IMNobody
Unfortunately No, I didn’t find a RPI zero under my tree, & really really want one, but, couldn’t get it because they’d didn’t make enough so it didn’t sellout before I found out the info on it. Couldn’t find it here in the US.
cameron
I got a 1 gig model b this year full canakit
Daniel Dimmock
I unwrapped a Raspberry pi 2 Yesterday and have already set it up
Tim
i found the Raspberry Pi 2 under the Tree :)
I´m very Happy :)
Toby
I already have a raspberry pi 2, but I got a sense hat!!!
peter
I got the raspberry pi2 model yesterday. I love this comp.
Jannik Wimmer
Now I have one of these little computers, too! The Raspberry Pi 2 B including the Mediapi+ and some other accessories was under the christmas tree two days ago! I’m so happy!
I wish you all a Merry Christmas!
Toby
Cool!
John Carson
I am an OLD guy and opened a Raspberry PI from my Son. This looks fun. I have wanted to learn. I am going to pay attention to this Blog.
bluecar1
got new soldering iron and car valeting kit, nothing pi
ordered pi 2 b from currys only £26 :) collect tuesday so plenty of time what to use it for
have quite a collection now
orig pi b
pi b
pi a
pi b+
pi zero
now pi 2b :)
only need an a+ for full house
got both pi cam and pi ir cam
rkgamer
(0_0)
Jesus Suarez
I can’t get enough of pi I ordered couple more and pi zero too !
stephen tholen
I idint get one under my tree or in my stocking :(
but I have one and my cuz gave me a wifi adapter from vet-co!
the bear
i cant doawnload rasbian cause it is a torrent or zip
how do i do it? :)
Kevin
Download it as a zip, extract and copy all the extracted data to your formatted sd card.
You can use winrar to extract it.
the bear
thank you :)
oskar
i got a pi zero and my brother got a A+!
Sebastian
I got the Raspberry pi 2 model at Christmas eve. Including the original Power supply and case and an8 GB SD card, WLan stick and some heat-rips. I love this little Computer to learn with Sonic Pi on Raspian.
tim Rowledge
Wait – you got Captain Pugwash Bubble Bath? Jammy so and so!
AndyD
I didn’t get any Raspberry Pi things for Christmas. I did however get some pie weights for blind baking. So I can bake my own Raspberry Pies
Hellozelo
I must admit, I’ve cheated… Bought myself the beast and hid it under the tree before the children woke up.
After 3 long days testing all *their* new toys and trains, I can now unpack mine and start enjoying. So let the party begin!
And by the way thanks a lot for having made this possible and open!
Jerome
Got mine on christmas eve from my soon to be wife, i do belive that she has no Idea what she has done. Went ahead and raided my collection of cables to find one that works. Next stop, Media Center and a Cardboard box. Not necesserally in that order.
Ill probably get one more just to play minecraft. on the tv
RC
Got myself and my son a zero on subscription to go with my Pi B only to find a Pi B2 in my present pile.
that’s four Raspberry Pi’s in the house….need to put them to use asap
Niels
This will be interesting to the RPi community! Here’s my “Your brother just gave you a Raspberry Pi for Christmas” guide! I wrote this since I gave my family Raspberry Pi’s, along with a whole kit of components I lovingly assembled.
https://github.com/njoubert/RaspberryPiChristmasCodingAdventure
Check it out, I’d love feedback and input! Send me a pull request haha!
Liz Upton
What a great brother! (I bought my own brother a Mexican wrestling mask for Christmas. You can make your own assessments on which is the better present.)
Clive Beale — post author
Fantastic stuff — the Pi plus your “What’s in the box” extras plus the write up is such a good present :)
Niels
Thanks a lot Clive, and thanks for the twitter share! I put a lot of effort into it, and im loving it that others can benefit from it as well…
In the process, I learned a whole bunch as well! There’s no better way to learn something that to try and teach it to someone else – so in many ways this gift was as much for myself as for them :)
bluecar1
one of my pi’s will be setup in a bird box
my Pi model A, it will be combined with a 1 wire temp sensor, PIR sensor, NOIR camera and 4 IR LED’s
this will let me monitor for birds investigating, how they build the nest, then nesting and the IR camera and LED’s will let me see inside at all times without disturbing the birds
initial program will be to take a image when the PIR is triggered and log the temperature
moving onto video once the eggs hatch so i can see the parents feed thiem etc
i hope to document the build
Eddie
Yeah, got one too. Just loaded the OS and surf now in the new device. The first project will start soon. I do plan to monitor my energy consumption :)
rkgamer
found a Raspberry pi 2 under my Christmas tree. Ultimate starter kit! Black case!
Denn Gray
Yes I got a Raspberry PI 2 Model B 32 GB SDcard and two 64 GB Thumdrives for it.
I Put Raspian on and Made my project, a Raspberry PI BBS (Bulletin Board System).
you can Telnet into it at outwestbbs.com port 23
Denn Gray
I decided that Ubuntu 15.10 was a better fit for my PI BBS
Telnet into my BBS @ outwestbbs.com:23
I love my PI might get a 2nd PI.
Epideme
Got a Pi 2 Model B and a Pi Zero :) Zero has been configured as a Mumble Voice server for me and my gaming crew and I’m tinkering away with the Pi 2 just to see what I can do :)
John Smith
It’s great for $35, but seriously, Y U NO HAVE i386 PROCESSOR?
bluecar1
if it had an x86 processor, it certainly wouldn’t cost $35 and would be far more complex, wouldn’t fit onto a board the size of a credit card and would need a far bigger power supply than a basic phone charger
just got to look at the cost and complexity of the intel galileo (intel quark SOC pentium class processor), far to expensive and complex for the target market the Pi is made for of education / schools
just look at range of projects people have used these for
Denn Gray
there is an x86 emulator for the raspberry PI called rpix86
it is available for free download on my BBS outwestbbs.com port 23
jbeale
Your choice- you can get small Intel CPU systems if you want. None to my knowledge are as small, low-power, and cost-effective as any of the R-Pi models.
MalMan35
Kinda a late to say but I got a really cool RPI case ( I already have a RPI 1 b+ and RPI 2 B) it has these blueish metal things that go on the prosseser chips! I also got a book called JavaScript for Kids!
Nicerocko
Got a raspberry pi 2 model b great gift. Now have to decide what project I will do. I have too many idea. :)
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